With my love of silks and beads and doodads, quilt artist Dianne Hire’s technique – described in her book Vivacious Curvy Quilts – was the perfect one to use for this quilt. I put my own take on it by adding the faced arch as the heading. I had a collection of Mughal miniature painting prints which I set within lavishly hand beaded frames and appliquéd. Then came the “trappings” for which I used Indian silks and brocades from my collection, embellished again with more beads.

 

I have used this technique for a few other pieces and enjoyed the process of choosing fabrics for this very freeform style. My quilt Dangles has a more contemporary look and Dawn to Dusk took a lot of planning of colours and sizes.